Page:History of Gardner, Massachusetts (1860) - Glazier.djvu/153

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Town History.—Ecclesiastical History.
149

Form of Covenant.

You do now, in the presence of the heart-searching Good, and this religious assembly, avouch the Lord Jehovah to be your God, your Creator, your Redeemer and your Sanctifier.

You promise, by the assistance of his grace, to live in conformity to his requirements; and that by uniting with the church of Christ in this place, to submit to the gospel discipline, rules and regulations, as established and practiced in the same.

I do now, in the name of the Great Head of the Church, pronounce you to be his, and entitled to all the blessings and privileges of his church. And we, the members of this church, cordially receive you into our communion; and we covenant to watch over you, and to promote your spiritual edification with all fidelity and tenderness, treating you in truth and love as belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all.

May the grace of God make you and us perfect to do his will, that we may walk together in love, preserving the unity of the Spirit in the bonds of peace; making us to abound in every good word and work; and at last, being found possessed of a character, adorned with every Christian virtue, may we all be so happy as to meet in the mansions of heaven, and unite our hearts and voices, with an innumerable multitude, in the song of blessing and honor, glory and power, to him who sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever. Amen.

Evangelical Congregational Society.

On the second of August, 1830, the seceding members of the first parish met and organized